Thisby Thestoop and the Black Mountain
Thisby Thestoop and the Black Mountain
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HarperCollins
Annotation: When Princess Iphigenia gets lost during a tour of the Black Mountain dungeon, it is up to gamekeeper Thisby Thestoop to guide the princess back to safety before she is eaten by the many creatures that live there.
 
Reviews: 4
Catalog Number: #154280
Format: Publisher's Hardcover
Publisher: HarperCollins
Copyright Date: 2018
Edition Date: 2018 Release Date: 04/17/18
Illustrator: Bosma, Sam,
Pages: 318 pages
ISBN: 0-06-249567-4
ISBN 13: 978-0-06-249567-9
Dewey: Fic
LCCN: 2017934813
Dimensions: 22 cm.
Language: English
Reviews:
Horn Book (Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 CDT 2018)

Twelve-year-old girl Thisby is gamekeeper for a castle dungeon's resident monsters. But after Prince Ingo is kidnapped, she joins snobbish Princess Iphigenia to rescue him and thwart an ancient evil. Thisby and Iphigenia initially clash but slowly become friends while facing the dungeon's perils together. Sly humor, engaging characters, and unusual creatures make this series-starting fantasy shine. Black-and-white illustrations capture key moments.

Kirkus Reviews

The saying goes, "Write what you know." Gorman seems to know a whole lot about monsters.This fantasy novel is filled with monsters, and they're not always familiar ones. There are wereplants and a slughemoth and a tarasque. Readers may assume the author made them up, but most of them come from actual folklore. Thisby Thestoop is in charge of feeding—and sometimes grooming—the monsters. Castle Grimstone, where she's grown up, has to look nice for tourists. It's designed to be an attraction for bored and foolish adventurers—fertile ground for a writer. One charm of the book is that everything that happens feels slightly counterintuitive and, better yet, slightly cynical. This extends to the pacing. When readers expect an epic battle, they may get the history of a city. Sometimes basic plot exposition is delayed until many chapters into the book. But there is a proper adventure story, complete with a search for a missing prince. The characters are so odd and engaging, though, that the plot hardly matters. The cast is only moderately diverse, however: a white protagonist; a pair of black-haired, olive-skinned twins; and a black adventurer/tourist who pops in now and again.Another saying goes, "Artists have to know the rules before they can break them." This author knows the rules of fantasy really well, and if the pacing sometimes defies convention, he makes up for it with spectacular monsters. (Fantasy. 8-12)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

In this peril-packed page-turner, first in a series, a pampered princess and a resourceful orphan girl struggle to stay alive in a monster-infested dungeon. As the gamekeeper for the dungeon of Black Mountain, 12-year-old Thisby Thestoop knows how to handle hungry trolls, rampaging wyverns, and cranky goblins. But when Princess Iphigenia and her brother, Ingo, come to tour the mountain and see its horrors, Ingo is kidnapped, and the dungeon-s inhabitants are thrown into turmoil. Thisby and Iphigenia attempt to rescue Ingo as ancient evils in the dungeon-s deepest depths threaten to escape their long captivity. Comic book writer Gorman makes a strong children-s book debut, deconstructing the creature-filled caverns and trapped tunnel tropes prevalent in classic role-playing games (who feeds the monsters or oversees proper distribution of treasure, for instance?) while delivering a fast-paced, high-stakes adventure. Clever Thisby and forceful Iphigenia make a delightfully odd pairing as they form an unlikely friendship amid the chaos and danger, and Bosma-s ghoulish b&w illustrations

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Horn Book (Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 CDT 2018)
Kirkus Reviews
Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)
Word Count: 67,410
Reading Level: 6.4
Interest Level: 3-6
Accelerated Reader: reading level: 6.4 / points: 11.0 / quiz: 196221 / grade: Middle Grades

Surrounded by all creatures gruesome and grotesque, Thisby Thestoop, the gamekeeper for the Black Mountain Dungeon, is getting roped into another job—saving the princess’s skin—in the debut fantasy-adventure series by Zac Gorman, contributor to the hilarious Rick and Morty comic series.

In the absurd land of Nth, Thisby Thestoop can be found within the forlorn walls of Castle Grimstone, down the precarious steps of the Black Mountain dungeon, up to her nose in griffon toenails, gnoll spittle, and troll meat (to give to them, not made of them).

When the prince and princess arrive for a Royal Inspection, the much too good-looking Princess Iphigenia winds up lost in the tunnels of the dungeon—without her guards, her staff, or her younger twin brother—and it’s up to Thisby to guide the princess safely past the hoards of minotaurs, wyverns, ghouls, and who-knows-what-else that would love nothing more than to nosh the royal highness for dinner.

Thisby Thestoop and Princess Iphigenia have a dangerous adventure ahead of them. If they’re going to a rescue the missing prince, stop a mounting war, and keep safe all the creatures who call the mountain dungeon home, they’ll have to learn how to trust each other.

Don't miss the first book in this rollicking new fantasy-adventure series from debut author Zac Gorman!


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